And it's critical for family members and others close to fragile patients to be vaccinated. It's not a substitute for vaccination, but the FDA has authorized an antibody treatment as a preventive treatment if high-risk patients are exposed to the virus. Health experts urged these high-risk patients to continue masking and taking other precautions since there's no guarantee a third dose will work. Canadian researchers this week reported 55% of transplant recipients given a third dose two months after standard vaccination had good antibody levels compared to 18% who were given a dummy third shot for comparison. The government encourages the third dose to be the same as the first two, but doesn't mandate it. Shots given under FDA's emergency use authorization are free. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University. "We would want to make that as easy as possible," said Dr. The government isn't requiring either - patients will just need to tell the vaccine provider why they're seeking another dose. WILL I NEED A DOCTOR'S NOTE OR A BLOOD TEST? That could change if Moderna's vaccine eventually is allowed for teens. That's because the Pfizer vaccine currently is the only authorized option for Americans under 18. ARE THERE AGE RESTRICTIONS?įor now, the new policy allows a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for children as young as 12 who also meet the high-risk requirement, but adults only for a third Moderna dose. The FDA didn't spell out exactly who falls into those other categories, but in new guidance to doctors issued Friday, the CDC listed several categories of people who could qualify, including people with advanced or untreated HIV infections and those with cancers who are receiving certain chemotherapies. While the federal government collects data from some states, 15 states and the District of Columbia are not included in CDC data, creating a potentially incomplete picture of dosage waste.Roughly 7 million American adults are classified as immune-compromised, but the FDA singled out transplant recipients and others with similar levels of immune suppression. “Though every effort is made to reduce the volume of wastage in a vaccination program, sometimes it’s necessary to identify doses as ‘waste’ to ensure anyone wanting a vaccine can receive it, as well as to ensure patient safety and vaccine effectiveness,” Fowlie said. Katie Fowlie, a CDC spokesperson, said that wasted doses from early efforts to distribute the vaccine “would not be unexpected” given the large number of doses the companies were tasked with administering. Walgreens said the wasted doses accounted for 0.5% of the vaccines it has administered. This is despite “issues with transportation restrictions, limitations on redirecting unused doses, and other factors,” a CVS spokesperson told KHN. In statements to Kaiser Health News, the companies said the number of wasted doses accounted for a small percentage of the total amount of doses that they administered. Both vaccines also require extremely cold storage, and many of the wasted doses were due to freezer malfunctions or doses being left at room temperature for too long. This means no-show appointments can affect distribution. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both have a limited shelf life: a vial of Pfizer’s vaccine, which contains multiple doses, must be used within six hours, while Moderna’s must be used in 11 hours. Reasons for wasted doses included broken supplies, storage errors, and leftover doses that expired. Both companies were initially criticized for the slow administration of the vaccines at these facilities. CVS and Walgreens, which have outlets across the US, were tasked by the federal government to help distribute vaccines to residents and staff of long-term care facilities in the weeks after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved for emergency use by the FDA.ĬVS told Kaiser Health News that “nearly all” of its reported wasted vaccines came from that time.
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